December 5, 2005. Lexington , KY. -- In a free Webinar hosted by WhatTheyThink.com; sponsored by Exstream Software, Kodak and Printable; and presented by WhatTheyThink Senior Editor Cary Sherburne, attendees learned about the investments required to be successful in variable data printing beyond the digital press and variable data software. Sherburne was joined by Michael Moran of Market Connections, Christopher Petro of Global Soft Digital Solutions and Joe Mislinski of Vestcom. All three companies are long-time participants in the variable data space, and had good insight, advice and experiences to share with the audience. The audio of the Webinar and PDF of the presentation are available online by visiting WhatTheyThink’s webinar archives. http://members.whattheythink.com/home/webinars/webinar051201.cfm “Nearly 400 printing industry executives registered for this event,” said Randy Davidson, President of WhatTheyThink. “This third in a three-part series focused on an aspect of variable data printing that isn’t frequently discussed—the investments required beyond the technology—and our speakers provided terrific information.” Some of the findings discussed during the webinar included the following: High performance variable data firms are spending as much as $4.00 on infrastructure for every $1.00 they invest in digital printing hardware. Speakers emphasized the importance of investing in human resources with the right skill sets to successfully deploy variable data programs. Output device manufacturers can provide a significant level of support to printers as they begin to “think beyond the box” of the digital press. For the companies that participated in the webinar, IT staffing comprises 10% of overall staffing, and accounts for 15% to 30% of salary expenses. Today’s IT professionals must be able to effectively interface with customers as the work to deploy solutions that will meet customer requirements. And as Chris Petro put it, “Cheap is expensive.” Investing in the right solutions and resources, even though they may be more expensive at the outset, is worth it in the long run. Sherburne stated, “This webinar is available for replay, and is well worth listening to in full for those who are considering entering the lucrative world of variable data printing.” Watch for future WhatTheyThink educational webinars through the balance of the year. About Exstream Headquartered in Lexington, KY, Exstream Software helps businesses around the world connect with their customers through higher quality, fully personalized customer communications delivered by mail, email and the Internet. Companies in the financial services, insurance, service bureau, telecommunications, utilities and other industries benefit from as much as 85 percent faster time to market, up to 80 percent reduced costs and increased revenue through improved customer retention. For more information about Exstream Software and its market-leading Dialogue and AFP Studio technology, visit www.exstream.com, or contact Exstream at 859-296-0600 or [email protected]. About Kodak Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, print and view images –for memories, for information, for business, and for entertainment. With sales of $13.5 billion in 2004, the company is committed to a digitally oriented growth strategy focused on four businesses: Digital & Film Imaging Systems – providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services; Health – supplying the medical and dental professions with traditional and digital imaging and information systems, IT solutions and services; Graphic Communications – providing customers with a range of solutions for prepress, traditional and digital printing, and document scanning and multi-vendor IT services; and Display & Components – supplying original equipment manufacturers with imaging sensors as well as intellectual property and materials for the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and LCD display industries. More information about Kodak (NYSE: EK) is available at www.kodak.com.. About Printable Technologies Printable Technologies is a world leader in providing Web-to-Print and Variable Data Printing (VDP) Solutions to commercial and digital print service providers, ad agencies and direct marketing companies, and the enterprises using their services. The Printable System delivers real-time integrated business communications applications, online ordering and e-commerce, versioned and variable documents, job submission, and file transfer; and easily integrates with ERP, content management, accounting and shop floor management applications, as well as major digital production workflows. For more information, visit www.printable.com. About WhatTheyThink.com WhatTheyThink.com is the print and publishing industry's leading online community. The company offers a mixture of free and subscription-based content for industry executives. Additionally, WhatTheyThink.com provides a robust content syndication program serving related web sites. About Cary Sherburne Cary Sherburne is a well-known journalist, author and strategic marketing consultant working primarily with the printing and publishing industry. Prior to launching her consulting practice, Ms. Sherburne was the Vice President of Marketing Communications and Outsourcing Solutions at IKON Office Solutions. Her tenure in the printing and publishing industry has also included sales, marketing and management roles at InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, Xerox Corporation, Indigo America and Bitstream. She is a frequent speaker at industry events, a regular contributor to WhatTheyThink.com and has written three books, available through the National Association for Printing Leadership ( www.napl.org). Sherburne can be reached at [email protected] or www.SherburneAssociates.com.